New Chargers head coach McCoy, who has been a student of football since he was a child, known for his thoroughness, dedication to sport

Mike McCoy speaks on a headset during a news conference after being named coach of the San Diego Chargers NFL football team, Tuesday, Jan. 15, 2013, in San Diego. The former offensive coordinator for the Denver Broncos replaces Norv Turner, who was fired along with general manager A.J. Smith after the Chargers finished 7-9 and missed the playoffs for the third straight season. (AP Photo/Gregory Bull)
— AP

Mike McCoy speaks on a headset during a news conference after being named coach of the San Diego Chargers NFL football team, Tuesday, Jan. 15, 2013, in San Diego. The former offensive coordinator for the Denver Broncos replaces Norv Turner, who was fired along with general manager A.J. Smith after the Chargers finished 7-9 and missed the playoffs for the third straight season. (AP Photo/Gregory Bull)
/ AP

“He’d be on the floor talking about what was going on,” said Frank. “It got to the point where he really knew the finer points of the game, even the methods used by different teams. Before he even played Pop Warner at age 8, he really knew offenses and defenses from a fundamental standpoint. He was a student before he was a player.”

Details, details.

The natural

Conveniently growing to 6-foot-3, Mike McCoy was groomed to play quarterback at San Marin High. If coaching went in one ear, it didn’t come out the other, and he figured out his own way of applying what he learned.

Before his junior year, quarterback coach Randy Whitsitt had told McCoy that he could make a more efficient passer of himself if cut down his stride on throws. He and Carolan would go to a local field and play catch — the latter running routes, the former taking drops — five or six days a week. One of those days, McCoy showed up with a rope that he tied around both of his ankles.

“He’d been told he needed to stride at 6-2 instead of 6-3,” said Carolan, who was a year ahead of McCoy at San Marin. “He measured out that rope for how long he should be striding and wore it for every throw he made, every day. That got him to stand up higher in the pocket.”

For all his height and aptitude and decent arm, McCoy didn’t get much of a sniff from major colleges. From the time he walked on at Long Beach State, McCoy had to scratch and claw for opportunities to play and work harder than more-gifted quarterbacks

He transferred to Utah and ranked among the nation’s most-productive quarterbacks, but wasn’t picked by an NFL team. After a season overseas with the Amsterdam Admirals, he helped lead the Calgary Stampeders to a Grey Cup final.

With every play, though, McCoy was delaying what seemed to be his real calling.

“I think it was hard for him to give up playing, but only for a second,” said McCoy’s wife, Kellie, the mother of their son Luke and daughter Olivia. “He’s just such a natural at coaching. And he’s really good at it.”

Frank McCoy, with his trained eye for detail, could’ve foreseen this decades ago. If the scenes he encountered at work were disturbing, the view at home was often uplifting.

“When Mike was a little kid, he’d put on a uniform that really didn’t fit him very well and he’d go sit on the end of the high school team’s bench … very cute,” said Frank. “And when he was old enough to play, when he used to finish football practice at San Marin, he’d stay and spend time with Pop Warner kids, tutoring them in throwing the ball, sharing what he’d been taught.”